VPAC Employee Talks About Working and Going to School at OCCC

Tate Truong is a former student who now works at OCCC.

He has been working at VPAC, helping to put on shows and events. Truong was even working at the auditorium at his high school. He has been in the theater for several years now and even had some hands-on experience going into college. Before working at OCCC, Truong was a diversified studies major with a focus on the arts.

Truong was initially interested in theatre in high school. He took a drama class his freshman year of high school and did get some enjoyment out of it.

Truong said he had some fun with it, but due to the focus on acting, he never got heavily invested in it. That’s when his drama teacher at his high school started showing him the technical side of it.

“That’s when I started taking care of that high school’s auditorium from Freshman year to Senior year. That’s how I got into it,” Truong said.

Truong graduated from OCCC last year. He was able to experience many different aspects of OCCC due to majoring in diversified studies. The diversified studies program at OCCC offers classes in several different areas of the campus. The program allowed him to get his basics done and to learn more about the arts, since that was what he had a focus on. OCCC does offer a theatre program, but it has more of an emphasis on acting. He wanted to focus more on the technical aspects of the theatre. Getting an associate’s from OCCC would also have helped set him up for a four-year degree.

Even though he has graduated, he has not gone on to a university. He has been working at the VPAC theatre to various shows and events. For now, he may not be at a four-year university, but he is getting very good experience in a field he has had a lot of respect for.

Truong has been able to work many shows and has said he has enjoyed many of them. Band Stand was a tech show that he said he enjoyed working on. A tech rehearsal is not a normal show. That is when a touring musical, for example, is just getting their tour started and needs to test out their sets and equipment and let the actors rehearse.

“Being 18 and seeing a full working Broadway production here at VPAC was really amazing. That was called Bandstand in 2019,” Truong said.

Truong has spent a lot of time at OCCC and gotten some great experiences and knowledge out of it.

“If you go here as a student or worker you won’t feel left out. As a student and a worker, I have met so many amazing people. There are so many different people and I love that about OCCC. If they have a job opening maybe you should apply and see if you like it,” Truong said.